Go the F*** to Sleep

Hardcover | June 14, 2011

Text byAdam MansbachIllustratorRicardo Cortes

Nothing has driven home a certain truth about my generation, which is approaching the apex of its childbearing years, quite like this." - The New Yorker"A parenting zeitgeist" - Washington Post"A hilarious take on that age-old problem: getting the beloved child to go to sleep." - National Public Radio"A new Bible for weary parents" - New York Times"Resonates powerfully with almost everyone" - Boston Globe"Go the F*** to Sleep challenges stereotypes, opens up prototypes, and acknowledges that shared sense of failure that comes to all parents who weary of ever getting their darling(s) to sleep and briefly resuming the illusion of a life of their own." - Midwest Book ReviewGo the F*** to Sleep is a bedtime book for parents who live in the real world, where a few snoozing kitties and cutesy rhymes don't always send a toddler sailing blissfully off to dreamland. Profane, affectionate, and radically honest, California Book Award-winning author Adam Mansbach's verses perfectly capture the familiar - and unspoken - tribulations of putting your little angel down for the night. In the process, they open up a conversation about parenting, granting us permission to admit our frustrations, and laugh at their absurdity.With illustrations by Ricardo Cortes,Go the F*** to Sleep is beautiful, subversive, and pants-wettingly funny - a book for parents new, old, and expectant. You probably should not read it to your children.Seriously, Just Go to Sleep, a children's book inspired byGo the F*** to Sleep and appropriate for kids of all ages, is also available, as well asSeriously, You Have to Eat for finicky ones everywhere! "

Nothing has driven home a certain truth about my generation, which is approaching the apex of its childbearing years, quite like this." - The New Yorker"A parenting zeitgeist" - Washington Post"A hilarious take on that age-old problem: getting the beloved child to go to sleep." - National Public Radio"A new Bible for weary parents" - N...

Adam Mansbach's novels includeThe End of the Jews, winner of the California Book Award, and the best-sellingAngry Black White Boy, aSan Francisco Chronicle Best Book of 2005. His fiction and essays have appeared in theNew York Times Book Review, theBeliever, Granta, theLos Angeles Times, and many other publications. He was the 2010-201...

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Reviews

Rated 4 out of
5 by
Julieanne from
HilariousVery funny to read #plumreview

Date published: 2016-11-14

Rated 4 out of
5 by
CdnMom from
Cute book!Fun book for parents who have struggled with getting their kids to sleep.

Date published: 2016-11-10

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Vanessa_Crosby from
Utterly DelightfulMy love for this book honestly defies words. As a work of satire, it's particularly on point in mocking the pedantic, empty cadence of most books on the market intended for toddlers and very young children. It's a nursery rhyme for every adult who has ever had a moment where they though "I would do anything if you would just..." when dealing with a child. The story is entirely secondary to the contrast of that familiar, childish verse, the colourful childish pictures and the gratuitous profanity. Because there's only so many times that you can read "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See" to a child before you being to feel just a little manic.

Date published: 2016-03-04

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Megan_Regnier from
F in' hilarious I can relateI'm a mother of 2 girls (8yrs and 19 months) and I can relate to this story quite well especially with my younger daughter who just doesn't go to sleep no matter how many different tactics and methods and schedules my husband and I have tried with her. I have been sleeping with her for the past year and a half and my husband has been on the couch. IMO it's nice to have a book with a frazzled stressed out parent saying what so many of us think so we don't feel like horrid parents. Yes we love our children and they mean the world to us, but that doesn't mean that we don't have the right to get frustrated and laugh at a book about a child who won't go to sleep. I read this book in Chapters and started laughing so hard I was crying because I have been there since my baby was born.

Date published: 2012-10-11

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Hushed_Paradox from
WHAT IS AIR?I needed a good laugh.

Date published: 2012-08-07

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Mr.A from
This made my day!I can't imagine anyone more qualified to do the audio version of this book than Samuel L Jackson. It's genius. I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard. I highly recommend this to anyone, especially someone who has struggled with a small child at bedtime.

Date published: 2012-01-17

Rated 1 out of
5 by
Kristilyn_@_Reading_In_Wi from
Not funny - offensiveI really hope I was not the only person who felt offended while reading this book. This is a rare thing that happens for me, and only happened once (Wetlands, Charlotte Roche) before. I had read so many good things about Go The F*** To Sleep that, even though I don’t have children, I just had to give it a read. First I read the book and felt like I missed something, and then I listened to the audiobook. The only redeeming quality for the story is the fact that Samuel L. Jackson does the reading for the audiobook and the contrasts between his voice, the story, and the music that’s going on in the background is priceless. The story is about a child who, obviously, won’t go to sleep and will go to any means to stay up—ask for water, another story, to go to the bathroom, etc. Irritating to new parents, no doubt, though I’m sure not all kids are like this (and don’t even try to say they are—I’ve heard stories, don’t get me wrong!). While I appreciated the audiobook to some extent, the story just didn’t do it for me. Yes, I’ve been around kids who don’t want to go to bed at night—so don’t think that I don’t know what it feels like—but this story isn’t for everyone. Not everyone feels the urge to swear at their kids and go crazy because their kid won’t go to sleep. Not everyone “gets” the same one-dimensional type of humor that is this book. Not everyone finds the over-usage of f*** hilarious. I sure didn’t. Personally, I didn’t see it as a refreshing read, as so many have touted it to be, I saw it as offensive and something I wouldn’t want my (nonexistent) children to accidentally find. If anything, the story could’ve made its rounds as an email complete with pictures, and maybe an audio attached—as a story book (which is at least $10), and something you’d only laugh at once during the initial read, it seems like a cash-cow. I’m sure it would be a great read for some parents, but honestly, past the first few pages, the gimmick gets old and it’s just too repetitive. There may have been a huge hype going over the book when it first came out, but, as I said, it’s a quick way for the authors to make money, and both the language and content will not be for every set of new parents.

Date published: 2012-01-13

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Candice_Smith from
"F**king hilariousWhen I first picked up this book and read it in the store, I literally laughed out loud like a page in. It was embarassing but the book was just so unsensored and truthful that I had to buy it. It would make a great stocking stuffer from the kids lol.

Date published: 2011-11-19

Rated 4 out of
5 by
Stacey_S from
Laugh Out Loud FunnyAn absolutely side splitting bedtime story for adults....I cannot tell you how many times I have secretly uttered those very words in sleep deprived desperation!! Critics of this story take themselves waaay to seriously. Just because a person thinks this is funny or has said or thought this about their child, doesn't mean we don't love them, or that we are somehow lesser parents. It's all part of the right of passage as a parent who deals with a sleepless babe! If anything, it says something that we can look at it with humour!

Date published: 2011-11-14

Rated 5 out of
5 by
pamela_farrell from
Amazingly Honest and FunnyPeople who do not like this book have no sense of humor. It is so funny and true. I know exactly how he feels, and its great that the author can relate to parents and enlighten us and give us a great laugh at the same time.

Date published: 2011-11-05

Rated 5 out of
5 by
diana_plathan from
hilariousThis book cracked me up.

Date published: 2011-09-14

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Heather_Maggiora from
FunnyEveryone needs to calm down, it's clearly just a joke.

Date published: 2011-09-14

Rated 3 out of
5 by
margaret_majewski from
A Good One Time ReadI must say this book did make me laugh, but I definitely wouldn't buy a copy for myself.

Date published: 2011-08-30

Rated 1 out of
5 by
Tracy from
HORRIBLEI cant believe this is even available for purchase. What an utterly horrible book. What has happened to the morals and ethics of society to even think that this is an acceptable book. You should be ashamed.

Date published: 2011-08-24

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Tiffany_Caughy from
Best book for parents!!This book makes me laugh.I have 3 girls & they all share 1 room together.It is a challenge every night to get them to go to bed.There is alway's something...so and so did it,they got out of bed,I can't sleep,I need a drink....this book is so true some times you really wish you could say go the f*ck to sleep.Check out youtube they have Samuel L. Jackson his thoughts on the book and him reading it.

Date published: 2011-07-26

Rated 5 out of
5 by
TT_((_Tentacle_Therapist_ from
I Loved This BookThis Book Is Quite Amazing I Think any Mother With A Child That doesn't Sleep Would Love This Book. It Makes every other la la by look like a cracker. It Also makes A wonderful Gift ♥♥♥♥♥♥ P.s. Glub

Date published: 2011-07-13

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Lonnie_McCann from
GREAT BOOK, FOCUSED FOR PARENTSWARNING!!! EXPLICIT LANGUAGE!!! this book is an amazing gift for parents of pre-schoolers / toddlers. the more children they have the more that they will love it